Sign the Petition to

The President of the United States, UN Secretary General, Leaders of the European Parliament, The General Secretary of the Communist Party of China

I urge you to take action to end forced abortion and gendercide, currently occurring in China because of the coercive enforcement of the One Child Policy.

The enforcement of the One Child Policy in China has resulted in millions of girls going “missing.” Because male children are preferred, families are abandoning, aborting or hiding girl children to use their one option for a child on a boy. There are now 37 million more men than women in China, which has led to an increase in sex trafficking, child brides and prostitution.

Under the One Child Policy, authorities often use forced abortion or forced sterilization against women as a brutal means of enforcing the policy’s restrictive birth limits.

I ask you to commit to helping end the forced abortion, forced sterilization and coercive family planning occurring under the One Child Policy. I also ask you to speak out against the cultural preferences for male children. These are the most crucial steps that can be taken to end China's gendercide.

How this will help

China's One Child Policy has led to the deaths of tens of millions of girls, simply because of their gender. Due to existing cultural preferences for sons rather than daughters, many Chinese families are abandoning, aborting, or hiding their female children. As a result, there are now 37 million more men than women living in China. This gender imbalance has in turn led to an increase in sex trafficking, child brides, and prostitution in the country.

The following three cases from 2012 are examples of the tragic effects of this policy and the cultural preference for sons:

• Cao Ruyi, Changsha City, Hunan Province. Family Planning Officials attempted to force Cao to have an abortion at five months, which she refused and was then detained. Because of international pressure she was released from detention, but she remains at risk of forced abortion. As of August 2012, she is in hiding.

• Hu Jia, Jianli County, Hubei Province. China's Southern Metropolis Daily reported that Hu Jia's pregnancy was forcibly aborted at nearly eight months. That this case was reported by a major Chinese newspaper indicates the growing discontent with the policy inside China and the courage of the Chinese news media to report it.

• In 2009 the British Medical Journal published that the overall gender ratio for China is 120 boys for every 100 girls. Eight provinces had ratios of over 160 boys for every 100 girls, for second children. The article stated, "Sex selective abortion accounts for almost all the excess males."

This war against women must end. Please sign this petition to world leaders asking for them to publicly speak out against China's family planning programs, and to commit to helping end this policy and practice.

This petition is supported by It's a Girl, Women's Rights Without Frontiers, and Women's Rights in China.